The Twisted Mind of Ancient Builders – Kudumiyanmalai Temple’s Lost Secrets

Hey guys, today we are going to look at an ancient temple called Shikanathar Temple, located in a remote village called Kudumiyanmalai. This temple is referred to as The Unsolved Puzzle by experts, because of its completely unexplainable, and unrelated carvings. Today, I am going to try to solve this puzzle and I want you to join me in understanding what the ancient builders were doing.
Some have claimed that this temple is showing twin carvings. For example, there are 2 apes who are identical placed opposite to one other. There are 2 identical warriors placed in front of one another. You can see 2 beauties in the same way, and see many other carvings the same way. However, the theory that this temple is made of a bunch of twin carvings is also not accepted because in other places, there are non-identical carvings, you can see carvings like these opposite to one another, and they are not identical carvings and they don’t even look similar.
If we look at the carvings side by side, it gets even more confusing. For example, when we enter this 100-pillar hall, on the right side, you can see this beautiful six-headed God, called Karthikeya sitting on a peacock. But right next to that, you can see Narasimha, a lion headed deity killing a demon. There is no connection at all between the first carving and the second carving. And if you look on the left side, you can see the similar problem, here is the elephant God Ganesha and right next to him, you can see this fantastic carving of a 10 headed figure called Ravana. And these figures are not connected, at least most people think that way. And you can go on and on, for example there is no connection between Ravana and this female deity. So, this random array of completely disconnected Gods, is never seen in any Hindu temple. Not just in ancient temples, even when they build new temples today, they still follow a pattern of connectivity between adjacent carvings. I mean, you should be able to see them, like you see the consecutive scenes of a movie. They don’t just throw a bunch of carvings here and there, there has to be a rhyme and reason. And because of this complete disconnect in this temple, experts and even pilgrims just don’t come here, I mean it is human tendency to ignore things you don’t understand. Even worse, some people have dismissed these carvings as the work of pure madness.
But it is not the fault of ancient builders, it is our fault because we are not looking carefully, and we are simply, not as smart as them. But let’s try to get into the mind of the architect, let’s experiment. If you enter this part of the temple, let’s say the first deity you look at, is this one, the elephant God Ganesha. But then you are supposed to look on the opposite side, this is his brother, this God on the peacock is the brother of Ganesha. This is the connectivity; this is how the carvings are arranged opposite to one another. I am sure some experts have noticed this pattern, but when they looked at these 2 carvings, maybe they dismissed this theory. Here, you can see the 10 headed Demon called Ravana and on the opposite side, we can see the Lion Headed God, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. What is the connection between them? Most experts haven’t read all the ancient Indian texts, so they cannot see any connection between the two carvings. They are comparing a Demon to an avatar of God Vishnu. Who is the most powerful between the two? And more importantly, is there a connection between the two? The connecting factor is this demon, his name is Hiranyakashipu, who is getting killed by Lord Vishnu. It is mentioned in ancient texts that Ravana, tried to lift the earring worn by this demon, and he could not do it. Ravana couldn’t even lift the earring of this demon and this demon is being destroyed by Lord Vishnu. So, these carvings are placed opposite to one another to tell us how large and powerful Lord Vishnu is, when compared to Ravana. Even though both these statues are carved the same size, it is merely an illusion like how we see the sun and moon of the same size, even though the Sun is much much larger than the moon.
Okay, so if this temple is a video game, you don’t play like this, you don’t see the carvings side by side, you play in a zig zag fashion, right? No. There is another rule we haven’t learnt. Let’s go take a look at the carvings in a different area.
Here, you can see this carving. Can you identify this deity? He is half human-half turtle, you can see the shape of the turtle shell at the bottom. And right next to him, you can see this god, who is this? This figure is half human and half boar, look at his face, he looks like a boar. They are seemingly unrelated.
You have to see them like this, as soon as you enter the hall, first you turn to the right side, you can see this carving that is half-man, half fish. This is the very first avatar of Lord Vishnu. Now turn to the opposite side, and you can see the Half Turtle God, this is the second avatar of Vishnu. But, then, you shouldn’t go across in a zig zag fashion, you should see the one right next to it, this is the third avatar who is half boar, and then you should look opposite to the boar, this is the half lion form, which is the fourth avatar. And then look to the opposite, see next to him, and you can see the little man called Vamana, who is the fifth avatar.
So, we are not got supposed to play this game in a zig zag fashion, we are supposed to play it like the Retro Nokia Snake, in this fashion. I have analyzed hundreds of ancient temples and I have never seen this idea of placing these carvings in this snake like pattern. And because of this weird pattern, both experts and regular visitors have not understood most of the carvings in this temple and their connectivity to one another. So, people just don’t visit this temple simply because they don’t understand the pattern hidden here.
By the way, if you are not a Hindu, and if you are completely lost by these avatars, the easy way to remember the order of Vishnu’s avatars is Darwin’s Evolution. First, our planet was dominated by fish, next there were amphibians, then there were rodents, after that we had the big cats, then the world was dominated by various human like species, the 10 Avatars of ancient Indian texts is remarkably similar to the theory of evolution.
So now we know, as we walk around the temple, we are supposed to look at the carvings in a snake like, serpentine fashion. I am not going to bore you with how every carving is connected to one another, our YouTube community is very smart and can answer most questions.
And now, because I have discovered this pattern, it completely changes our understanding of these carvings. Because until now, people think, many of these carvings are just 2 identical carvings. Look at this carving on one side and this carving on the opposite side. What do you think? Can you see any difference between the two? You can easily dismiss them as the same deity, but since ancient builders arranged a pattern of continuity, they cannot be the same deity. So, let’s look closer, look at his hands, this guy has weapons in his hands, but look at this guy, unfortunately all of his hands are cut off except this one. But he is not holding a weapon, he is holding a lamp and you can even see the tiny fire glowing here. The fire is the key. Look at the hairdo on him, His hair looks like fire, like Flames, right? Who is he? He is the ancient Super Saiyan, this is figure is called Agni Veerabhadra, Agni means fire in Sanskrit, so he is the warrior of fire, who burns his enemies to death. So, who is this guy on the opposite side?
Look at this hand, how he is stylishly pulling out an arrow from the quiver at the back. He is just using 2 fingers to pull out the arrow, without even turning his head. This God is so stylish, that even his hairpins are shaped like lingams, you can see multiple lingam shaped hairpins. But the key detail is in his clothes, see here, you can see the human skulls on his clothes. The people who use skulls in rituals are called Aghoris, so we can identify this warrior as Aghora Veerabhadra, who decapitates his enemies and keeps their skulls as trophies. By the way, if you are not a Hindu and if you have sat through this and understood this, you should pat yourself on the back, because I have just taught you some very advanced Indic iconography.
In a similar fashion, we can now decode these 2 apes also. And you can see the ape’s body hair on this statue, it is remarkable how they achieved these curves on solid granite, it still remains a mystery. But these 2 figures are not identical, they have some differences, they are actually brothers by the names of Vaali and Sugreev mentioned in ancient Indian texts.
But some figures facing each other, don’t look similar to each other at all. But because we know that opposite carvings are connected, we can now unravel some interesting stories. Here, you can see this mother Goddess Parvathi. Parvathi is normally supposed to look beautiful and nice, but here she is actually angry, and you can see her eyes popping out and her fangs are coming out. Why? Let us look at the opposite side, who is he and what is he doing? He is her husband, Lord Shiva, and he has lifted up one of his legs. And look carefully, there is an earring in one ear, but on the other ear, there is no ring. Believe it or not, this missing earring is helping us crack the case. There was once a dance competition between Shiva and his wife. The competition began and other Gods started gathering to watch this. Shiva is known as the greatest dancer, the cosmic dancer of the universe, but surprisingly, his wife was able to do, every move he made. The crowd started to become bigger and bigger to watch this spectacle. He tried some of the complex moves, but his surprise, she was able to do them too. Unable to defeat her, Shiva played a dirty move, he dropped one of his ear rings on the ground, but he did not bend down to pick it up with his hand. Instead, he picked it up with his toes of the right leg, and then put it back in his ear without using his hands. Now, was his wife capable of doing it? According to ancient texts, she was flexible enough to do it, but due to her modesty, she did not lift her leg, afraid to reveal her body in front of everybody. And this carving captures it perfectly, see how she is looking down, as a defeated person. That’s why she is angry at Lord Shiva, she has lost the competition, but it was unfair.
So, you can see that we are now literally able to dissect each and every carving because we have understood how ancient builders have arranged the carvings in this temple. I’ll admit that it is a very strange thought process, to expect a visitor to go in a snake like fashion to understand these carvings. But once we understand this and follow this, it is just pure magic, now we can understand all these figures, who they are, and what they are doing, and how every carving is piece of this giant story, it used to be an unsolved puzzle, but now we have cracked the code.
I am not going to show you all the carvings, and how they are connected to one another, that video can go on for 10 hours, you know? So, I hope this video was of some value to you, and I hope it helped you understand the thought process of ancient builders.

–Praveen Mohan

Why Is A “JOKER” Carved In Every Hindu Temple? Ancient Secret Revealed | Ashtavakra

Hey guys, did you know there is a rule to have a Joker carved in all Hindu temples? We know that the only sensible way to live in this world is without rules. Yet, there is such a rule, it is not an option, all Hindu temples must have at least one carving of the Joker. How did such a crazy rule come into effect? This makes no sense, right? Did the British, force Indians to make such carvings during their occupation of India? Did they do this to discredit Hinduism? No, the carvings of the Joker are seen in very ancient temples, for example this is a 1300-year-old temple, and you can see the so-called Joker. Who is he? And why do they still carve this joker in temples?

Nobody knows about him today, and if you ask any expert or priest, they will refer to him simply as the Vidushaka, a sanskrit word that also means clown or a joker. Some experts argue that there is a lot of humor in ancient Indian carvings, so they dismiss this carving as just a joker or a clown. For instance, you can see a dancing woman here, and this guy has been watching her from the back while she is dancing, but she suddenly turns and reveals her face. And it is a man, even though he has some parts of the woman, this face reveal results in absolute horror for this guy. The sculptor actually carved a round hole in the mouth to show the shock, and look at this accomplice of the scammer, she is absolutely loving what’s going, unable to control her laughter. Because of carvings like these, we can easily dismiss this as a just another joker or a clown.

But there is a problem, why does he appear again and again in all the temples? Why is it mandatory to carve him in temples, and he doesn’t do anything, he just stands there with his strange breakdancing move.

The truth is, this forgotten figure is not a joker, he is a saint by the name of AstaVakra. And he is smiling, because it confuses people, he is smiling because it is easier than explaining what is killing him inside. He is not break dancing, he had a medical condition, called rickets. Deformity of the limbs is the result of extreme case of this disorder.  When we look at actual patients suffering from rickets, we can see why he is shown like this in the carving. And that’s precisely what his name Astavakra means, it means 8 Bends or 8 curves, and the carvings accurately depict his 8 bends. Now here is a fun fact: A certain species of spider is named after him, these types are called Astavakra Sexmucronata, I mean you can definitely see why this 8-legged insect is named after him.

When did he live? There are 2 ancient Indian epics, and he is mentioned in both of them, so he lived at least 2000 years ago, although he could have lived in a much much older time. He is always shown with an umbrella, sometimes it is open, sometimes it is closed, or he wears a long hat, which makes me think he was allergic to sunlight. And we all know that Sunlight gives you vitamin D, and Rickets is caused by lack of Vitamin D.

But all this doesn’t explain why this specific guy with rickets must be carved in all the Hindu temples, right? I mean, there must have been lots of people with physical and mental abnormalities, so why should they ancient builders carve just this guy everywhere? Because he earned it. He is known for writing a very advanced book on metaphysics called Ashtavakra Gita. Some say, this book is so advanced in philosophy, that it rivals the ancient text of Bhagavad Gita itself, and it is also said to be written around the same time. But there is a shocking difference between his book and the Bhagavad Gita, his book denies the existence of God, some even consider this book to be the first atheistic text or Godless text, and he dismisses all duties and morals as unnecessary, and talks about how to achieve enlightenment, and free your mind of all worries and fears.

It is strange, how an atheist, who denied the existence of God or Gods, can be carved in Hindu temples. Why would ancient builders do that? Because he contributed to the society, in spite of his physical limitations. Most people think Hinduism is about polytheism, but it also embraces monotheism, theosophy and even atheism. The Indian culture is so old it includes all schools of thought.  This is why you see Buddha carved in many Hindu temples, remember Buddhism openly rejects Hindu rituals, and you can still see carvings of Buddha. And Ashtavakra is essentially an atheist, and you can see his carvings in all Hindu temples, at least most of them.

Now, interestingly, he is often carved in places where people are indulging in physical pleasures. He is often shown looking at them and laughing at them, and we can only guess why. Maybe it is a frustrated smile because he could not indulge in such sensual pleasures? But he is shown laughing at them, almost ridiculing them for their physical cravings.

It is said that once he entered a royal court and people immediately started laughing at his appearance. He patiently waited for their laughter to quiet down, only to laugh back at all of them. He called them all. shoe makers, as shoe makers can only look at the skin of an animal, he laughed at their superficial nature. He laughed at people who wasted their time on appearances, he laughed at people who lost track of their lives because of sensual pleasures. There is a very deep philosophy hidden in this carving, maybe that’s why it is carved in every temple.

But there is a strange twist, or an untwist in the story. He got cured of this condition. We don’t exactly know how this happened, but according to some legends, he was healed of all his deformities, and he could walk like a normal person.

I think that some carvings show the healed version of Ashtavakra as well. In some temples, you don’t see the “Joker”, but you will see a saint, but if you look at his hands, you will see an umbrella, and a vessel, the same iconography of Ashtavakra. If you don’t see him in this form, you may see him like this.

I hope this video was as interesting to you, as it was for me. I have been trying to find the information about this guy for more than 10 years, I was looking at his carving in every temple I went to, and nobody knew who he is. And it was frustrating, and finally we figure who he is. I think we are making progress in understanding ancient temples, and I am grateful for your support. I am Praveen Mohan, thanks a lot for watching. Don’t forget to subscribe, and I will talk to you soon. Bye!